Munster thumped Northampton 51-36 to finish the European Cup pool stage as the top seeds.

Simon Zebo scored a hat-trick and helped the Irish giants to a bonus-point win against last year’s finalists. The result means that Munster have accumulated 25 points and regardless of what happens in Sunday’s games they will go into the quarter-finals at the top-placed side.

Meanwhile in other European Cup matches, Bath ended a disappointing campaign on a high when they beat Glasgow 23-18 at The Rec. Scarlets edged Castres 16-13, Leinster overpowered Montpellier 25-3 and the cool goal-kicking of Ruan Pienaar wasn’t enough to get Ulster over the line in the 19-15 defeat to Clermont. Leicester scored a bonus-point 33-6 win against the hapless Aironi